Gaziantep EU Information Center, which was established in 1996 at the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce (GTO) as Turkey’s first EU Information Center and has been organizing events to enrich the social and cultural life of Gaziantep since the day it was established, celebrated May 9 Europe Day with a concert full of entertainment and art.
This year, on the occasion of May 9 Europe Day, celebrated with the slogans “Our Common Values, Our Common History” and “Peace and Prosperity We Build Together”, the Haidouti Orchestra, consisting of musicians from different countries such as France, Greece, Turkey, Romania and Serbia, met with the audience with its multicultural repertoire including melodies from the Balkans, Turkey and the Middle East, and gave messages of unity and solidarity.
The opening speech of the event, which attracted great interest from the audience that filled the hall to the brim, was given by GTO Board Chairman Tuncay Yıldırım, who provided information about Europe Day, saying, “I would like to briefly mention the ‘Europe Day’ that has brought us together this evening. On May 9, 1950, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman announced a bill of law stating that peaceful relations should be established permanently in Europe. This bill, also known as the ‘Schuman Declaration’, actually constitutes the building block of the European Union. For this reason, May 9 has been celebrated as ‘Europe Day’ in EU member countries, candidate countries like us and potential candidate countries since 1985.”
Continuing his speech, Yıldırım emphasized that art is undoubtedly the most beautiful expression of the common values and common past of societies, and said, “I believe that nothing has the unifying, healing and developing power of art. Therefore, as the Gaziantep EU Information Center, which is the first European Union Information Center in Turkey and has been operating within our Chamber for 28 years, we wanted to celebrate Europe Day with this beautiful artistic event.”
“The ladder to the summit of civilization is art”
In his speech, President Yıldırım, who reminded the words of the founder of the Republic, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, said, “Our Ancestor emphasized the importance of art on the path to civilization by saying, ‘The ladder to the summit of civilization is art.’ As GTO, we consider climbing the ladder of art and supporting those who climb as one of the most important parts of our corporate culture. While we are proud to have made our mark in raising young people who are passionate about art with the first Fine Arts High School of the region that we established in 2005, we also try to bring the people of Gaziantep together with art frequently with the events we organize.” – GAZİANTEP
